


Failing the Secret Santa Stealth Check

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Series: The Dragon Jesus Saga [4]
Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Gen, Mention of Canonical Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Reunions, can be read as a standalone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:01:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27748678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: It's been two years since Kujo Kiriya's gone missing, only leaving little notes and presents on Nishiwaki's desk. But this time around, Nisshi finds a little more than he's expecting when he doubles back to the morgue for something he's forgotten.
Relationships: Kujou Kiriya & Nishiwaki Yoshitaka
Series: The Dragon Jesus Saga [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601899
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4
Collections: Oreos' Fanfic Gauntlets





	Failing the Secret Santa Stealth Check

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little follow up inspired by the Nisshi love left in the comments of [Chapter 10 of Trust Fall](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22078852/chapters/53169925) from this same series. I don't think it's necessary to read that chapter to get this, so no worries if you're new!

Nisshi swallowed thickly around the lump in his throat. Today's date felt branded into his brain.

December 23...

And tomorrow would be Christmas Eve.

Ever since that Christmas two years ago, the following Decembers had been hazy drags. All his thoughts would be weighed down by anxiousness and depressive moods. It wasn't like this with Jungo. There was an exact death date. While Nisshi got somber as the anniversary neared, he could always go and visit his grave, get some comfort in remembering him. Being able to go with Kiriya on Jungo’s death day and giving the two of them space when necessary (almost like they were all together again) helped make those summer days easier, too.

Because they had a date, time, and cause of death, Nisshi felt more assured. He could better expect when he’d feel sad and take steps to feel better. Knowing details helped. Knowing could ease some of that pain. Facts and data were concrete, solid, something he could hold onto even if they hurt, because not knowing somehow hurt even worse.

It made Kiriya's death hurt even worse.

All Nisshi knew, was that Kiriya went missing sometime between December 23rd and December 31st. And having that little to go off of, not even having a body to mourn or gain some closure from, ate away at him. Especially when he might've been able to help.

He knew something had gone wrong. With December 28th passing by without seeing Kiriya once, Nisshi had the first stirrings of discomfort and suspicion. Kiriya usually took the day before Christmas Eve off, the trip to see his parents went a lot smoother than on the actual holiday, but he'd be right back to work the next day. Nisshi didn't even get any of the usual annoying texts to get recipes from Riko or ask her for bigger portions for easier mooching off Nisshi's bentos.

He tried to be patient, write it off. Maybe Kiriya had taken some extra days off this year. His parents were getting older and it would be better to spend more time with them when he got the chance. Or maybe something weird happened with his bugster investigation. Maybe he even landed himself in the hospital again for being reckless. He made sure to check the new arrival and ICU records after that realization and came up with nothing.

And when New Year's Eve came with still no sign of Kiriya, he knew something was wrong. But it wasn't until he got a phone call from Kiriya's parents, sobbing and asking if Nisshi had seen him recently, he knew he had to do something, even if was too late.

Nisshi was the closest he'd ever been to a full-blown panic since Riko got kidnapped, and he marched right into that pediatrician's office again. Hojo just gave him a half-hearted: "He's been given some administrative leave by Director Kagami to investigate something related to Game Disease for us."

Nisshi wanted to believe it at first because it was the safest answer. It meant Kiriya was okay, and he passed the information onto the Kujo family. But everything seemed so off about it. He thought he could hear the five stages of grief in the silence they gave him as he told them the news. When they got to the acceptance stage, Nisshi could still hear the hurt in their voices when they thanked him because they knew they couldn't do much in this situation. So, Nisshi promised himself he'd make it up to them. Make it up to Kiriya, too. Nisshi never liked the idea of investigating CR, warned Kiriya against it in the first place, but now they were both in the thick of it.

Kiriya wouldn't just leave without telling anyone, especially his parents. And the way Hojo couldn't meet his eyes, the way he said it, even the words he said... _Especially_ the words he said, actually. Nisshi knew Kiriya would sometimes exaggerate his stories, but he was positive CR didn't appreciate someone like him poking his nose where they thought it didn't belong. Maybe they didn’t hate him like he offhandedly said, but he certainly wasn’t welcome with CR. It didn't matter to them that he had more right to be investigating than they knew. Kiriya hadn't told him how the attempt to open up about Jungo went, and he didn't need to. Nisshi could see it all over his face that day.

After Kiriya's disappearance, it made him worry that CR were the ones who possibly killed him. To shut him up or something. Maybe get him out of their way. So, he tried to avoid them from then on, digging into niche news sites for bugster reports and hospital records like Kiriya once did. But when CR asked him for the other man’s things, Nisshi decided to comply but hound them about his condition, even if he was certain of the real answer. If he couldn't get closure, the least he could do was squeeze them for every last detail by being a nuisance.

It's probably what Kiriya would've wanted...

And then the notes and gifts started arriving during that Rider Chronicle thing, making everything more complicated. At first, Nisshi thought it was someone at CR, trying to fill a void in the completely wrong way. He'd already lost one friend. He seethed, seeing this as a sign they would rather play pretend with him instead of telling him the truth. Nisshi wasn’t stupid and he dealt with death on a daily basis, he needed answers, not kid gloves.

And then the gifts continued, even after CR announced Kiriya's death. When he questioned them one last time, they insisted on their story: he died during Chronicle. That led Nisshi to wonder if it was just a cruel prank by someone else in the hospital. It's not like he knew people enough to make enemies. Anyone he was close with was forensics and pathology staff, and they were all mourning Kiriya at the time, so it couldn't be any of them. He knew these people. They weren't like that.

But that did leave him with another somewhat terrifying reality if it was true.

He was just imagining the notes and presents. Maybe even placing them himself to recreate someone who was never coming back. That he'd suffered the loss of his two closest friends and he was finally crumbling under the stress of it all.

He felt his chest start to tighten, and he clenched his fingers a little too hard. Whatever tool was in his hand pressed deep into his bones, slowly bringing his attention back to the present.

Focus. Focus...

Remind himself, he's at work. Masaki's calling his name. What were they talking about? Something about the case for once? He could work with that if they seemed to want his input at any time. When he zoned out Masaki was worrying over Christmas presents for their friends... ah, that's why he started thinking about Kiriya.

Nisshi blinked a few times, trying to see the body in front of him instead of the person he wished was working next to him, as annoying as he was.

Right, he was trying to dig through the chest cavity and find any fragments of the ribcage. They were missing a handful of pieces from the initial reconstruction of the victim's broken bones; leading them to suspect their victim was hit with some very direct blunt force trauma on their left side. The missing fragments were incongruous with the breaks and fractures of the body being thrown downstairs in the perpetrators' attempt to make it look like an accident. He was currently holding a fragment, and in the corner of his vision, he could see Masaki patiently holding out the tray, waiting for him to drop it.

Internally cursing himself out for making them wait who knows how long, Nisshi got back on track. Time seemed to fly by as he focused more on them and the case, and they were able to find almost all of the missing bone fragments as their shift was coming to an end. There were still a few missing and Nisshi stubbornly dug around for them.

Masaki had gone off to take a break, get some fresh air or something. He thought they mentioned staying here breathing all the preserving chemicals without a break couldn't be good, but he couldn't remember now. That was smart, though. Nisshi thought he should do that, too, but if he could just finish this part of the autopsy then there'd be less to do tomorrow.

But that was his usual work attitude. Didn't he want _more_ things to do tomorrow? That's why he was insistent on taking the shift, better than just sitting around at home with nothing but himself and negative thoughts, maybe Riko to swing by and distract him if she wasn't already going out with her friends.

Damn it—

One of the elusive bone fragments slipped out of his forceps, landing somewhere between the heart and the left lung as he tried to transfer it to the tray.

Sighing, he started searching for it, wishing Jungo was around. Even though he got queasy around particularly violent cases, Nisshi had never seen someone find bone fragments like him. Maybe that's why he got into this field in the first place. He had a talent for finding points of trauma on the body and putting the pieces back together. How Jungo even discovered his knack was beyond Nisshi, and the other man didn't want to reflect on it too deeply, so they would never know. Especially now that Jungo was gone, so it was up to Nisshi to find and put all this back together.

If Masaki stayed around, this work might be less tedious, at least. Eight years ago, Nisshi would've preferred the quiet, but since he'd gotten used to having Kiriya around, an on and off stream of chatter had somehow become necessary to his workflow. When Jungo was around, the topic was whatever Kiriya found interesting that day. And when he died, Kiriya would sometimes mix in stories of attempts to learn code with a bitter edge to his voice. And after Nisshi got infected with bugster, he opened up the slightest bit about the virus, just giving him enough details to recognize it in a patient and the bare minimum of understanding how it worked.

Nisshi startled at a touch to his shoulder, almost dropping the forceps into the chest cavity.

He whirled around to see Masaki, looking almost equally rattled as they slowly raised a hand, then jerked their thumb towards the door. "Um... Shift's over."

Feeling a bit embarrassed for being that wrapped up in reminiscing and getting caught sulking, Nisshi tried to laugh it off. He let out a tiny sound that was more of a sigh than anything and nodded. Masaki's brow furrowed, lips drawing up into a pout.

"You sure you're okay, Nishiwaki-san?" They asked, "I can clean up here if you wanna bounce right now? You've been looking sad all day."

Nisshi blinked. He gave them a once over, then again, really taking in all 152 centimeters of them, with their bright eyes above their surgical mask, noodly arms, and round face. Their operating scrubs hung a little loose on them, making them look even smaller. Then, he looked at their current case, male, 67 years old, 174 cm, 72kg, fit for his age, heavily tattooed. The storage unit for the body went up to about Masaki’s shoulder height.

He really ought to help them but...

"You sure you can manage that?"

...he wanted to see if they could.

They nodded resolutely, a big grin twinkling in their eyes.

He stepped aside, taking up all the tools so he could get started on sanitizing those while Masaki started closing up the body and getting it covered and ready for storage again. Nisshi focused on getting the tools cleaned up, making sure he was thorough. If there was a bit of rush to his actions, well, he was eager for the show.

...Kiriya rubbed off on him in a bad way, huh?

Once he had everything set up again, he stayed in his operating scrubs, just in case, then turned to watch Masaki. They had the body wheeled over to the freezers, the specific storage space's table drawn out, and...

They slowly hefted the cadaver's head onto the table, and the whole body sort of... flopped along, following the motion, as they grabbed onto the shoulders and pulled with all their might to get it back into storage. As the legs were sliding off the operating table and Masaki looked like they'd topple over if they yanked again, Nisshi ran over to help. They were likely to do more damage, and the last thing the forensics team needed was accidental tampering with evidence. The other hospital staff already gossiped about what must be going on in the morgue, given two of their employees died, and Nisshi really didn't want to deal with any more whispers when people thought he wasn't listening.

"Oh! Thanks Nishiwaki-san," Masaki said from the other side of the corpse, and together, they got it safely stored.

They laughed nervously, hand hovering over the back of their neck like they wanted to rub it embarrassedly, but thankfully knew better than to touch exposed skin with their gloves still on.

"Um, well, I guess we can leave together, if you'd like?" They offered as they headed towards the back. Nisshi gave them a tired smile and nodded. What a handful.

They changed into their regular clothes quickly, and Masaki was bouncing on their toes when Nisshi came out of the bathrooms, seemingly eager to get home.

"Hey, Nishiwaki-san, you're really coming in tomorrow to work?" Masaki asked as they locked up the morgue for the night.

Nisshi just nodded, trying to repress a sigh. He figured they would ask, but he really didn't want to explain his reasoning if they tried digging. Masaki didn't seem to pick up on his reluctance, though.

"But it's Christmas! You're not going to stay with your family?"

He shrugged, "Lots of medical staff won't be seeing their family. And we're Buddhist, so Christmas isn't such a big deal for us..." They were all real reasons, but Nisshi still felt bad for dancing around the main one. He wasn't good at lying. Not like a certain someone who unintentionally caused him all this stress.

Masaki hummed thoughtfully, then nothing. Nisshi thought that'd be the end of it, just them silently walking through the halls until they parted at the exit of the hospital, but Masaki could never stay quiet for long. "Okay, I'll take New Year's then, so you better spend that time with your family. Or y'know, just _relax._ You've been so tense since the start of this month! I thought you were stressed about the holidays, but if you don't celebrate Christmas all that much, the seasonal stress from everyone else must really get to you, huh?"

Nisshi couldn't help but huff amusedly. Their concern was sweet, even if their reasoning was way off the mark. Better to have them believe this anyway. Even if knowledge about the bugster virus was now public, he wasn't sure how much people were allowed to know.

"Yeah, it's something like that..." He smiled as reassuringly as he could, "Okay, I'll try to take the day off."

"Good!" They clapped him on the shoulder lightly as they left the building, "You take care now, Nishiwaki-san!"

Nisshi returned their wave goodbye and watched them practically bounce their way towards the train station. The weirdest people ended up working in forensics at this hospital for some reason. Kujo "Delusions of Being an Spy Movie Protagonist, Actually a Kamen Rider" Kiriya, Aihara "Why Were You Here if You Vomit at the Sight of Gore" Jungo, and now Masaki "Shouldn't You be a Nurse or Something if You're This Upbeat" Yuu.

Not that Nisshi himself was "normal" by any means, but it was just... strange to have all these people in the same place who seemed like poor matches for the job description. He started walking towards his station, lost in thought.

He didn't like playing into the cruel and depressing alternate explanations he came up with for “Kiriya's” presence in the morgue, but they didn't care and started rattling around his skull. And it's not like he had much to counter them. With everything CR told him, what did he have for proof that Kiriya was alive besides a gut feeling? Nothing. As much as Kiriya would've argued with him, intuition didn't solve cases, facts did, and all the facts were pointing to him actually being dead.

Nisshi's brain felt hazy again. December had been so exhausting, and, as if in response, his stomach growled. He sighed, remembering he hadn't eaten much all day. He hadn't eaten much, period, if he was being honest. Nisshi looked around for a place to sit down and finish off the bento Riko made him, but the emptiness of his hands made him realize he'd forgotten it.

Even though he was coming back tomorrow, it wouldn't do to leave it overnight and have all the food spoil by then. With a heavy sigh, he started making his way back towards Seito.

He wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep so he could properly throw himself into his work tomorrow, and it made every step back towards the morgue feel heavier and heavier. When Nisshi reached the doors, he wasn't sure he even had enough energy to get back home; and started debating if he should sleep overnight like the early days of his internship. He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably, then pushed on through to the offices.

As the doors burst open, there was a sudden thudding, like a box full of things hitting the ground. Nisshi's head snapped up to see a figure in the darkness suddenly duck behind one of the desks.

"Who's there?" He demanded.

How could there have been a break-in? Unless it was a bugster? Kiriya told him they could teleport, so a locked door wouldn't be much of a problem. Nisshi flicked the lights on and suddenly paused when he saw a huge red shopping bag on his desk with white hibiscus print all over it, and the words "Cookie Corner" on the front.

On the ground, a box laid on its side, probably the source of the noise. Nisshi quickly noted its haphazard wrapping of rainbow paper with stick-on bows to cover up rips and what were practically cross-stitches of tape. But his attention snapped to the obvious human shape squeezed between the wall and the back of his desk, trying to duck down behind the box. The figure was wearing a lab coat, so he knew it couldn't be who he was hoping for. Kiriya rarely wore his, favoring scrubs for operating and that leather jacket for everything else. But Nisshi could also recognize that expression of 'I fucked up' anywhere.

He took a few steps forward and felt the name slam painfully into his throat before leaving his mouth.

The figure just tried to squeeze further behind his desk at his voice, hiding his face in his hands, and Nisshi sighed.

"Kiriya..." He deadpanned, "Do you really think that's going to help you hide better?"

"I can't see you, so you shouldn't see me, now shut up and leave. It's not Secret Santa if you know who's gifting you things."

Nisshi rolled his eyes, finally stepping up to his desk and rifling through the bag. He waved a neatly folded piece of paper in Kiriya's face, "It's not so secret if you sign it."

"Doesn't say my name," the other man responded, and Nisshi sighed, fondly, but still a heavy sigh reserved for Kiriya.

"You've been signing your gifts this way since that Rider Chronicle thing started up. Don't try to play dumb with me."

Kiriya shrugged slightly, still hiding his face, "Could be the new pathologist, may have a crush on you."

Nisshi rolled his eyes, reaching down to grab at Kiriya's forearm and pull him up. "Timeline doesn’t match up. We got them end of fall after that crisis. But sure, I'll believe it when I see it. Now stop denying and get over here."

The other man rose to his feet easily, but when Nisshi tugged him forward, he suddenly tensed, eyes wide like he couldn't believe what was happening. Nisshi rolled his own and tugged Kiriya in again. He stumbled forward easily this time, still in shock but returning the hug, pressing the side of his face tight to Nisshi's chest.

"I thought you hated hugs," Kiriya mumbled quietly.

He did. But he needed this just as much as Kiriya probably did. "I'll make an exception just this once. Don’t think you’ll ever get another if you go missing again," Nisshi patted his back, silently asking him to let go now.

But Kiriya still clung to him, eyes squeezed tight, and Nisshi sighed, though it was a fond one. He kept his arms wrapped around the smaller man until he finally let go.

"Thanks," He said, smile tight but his eyes shining genuinely.

Nisshi wasn't sure what to make of the expression, but he wouldn't look too deeply into it, figuring Kiriya would either prefer to keep his secrets or tell him when he felt like it. For now, he just went about picking up the box from the floor and setting it on his desk next to the giant shopping bag.

"What did you even get us this year?" Nisshi asked, curiosity suddenly getting the best of him. He hadn't gotten huge presents like this since he was a child, so it was exciting. He already saw some assorted snacks when looking for the note, but he was curious what else... He managed to catch a glimpse of a brightly colored box with cookies in the plastic window before Kiriya was yanking him away towards the front of the office.

"Don't mind, don't mind," He said, starting to lead them to the door, "Though I promise it's something good since I couldn't get you last year."

Nisshi tried to tear his arm from Kiriya's grip, but the smaller man was even stronger than the last time he'd seen him. How...?

Maybe he could ask later, for now, he dug his heels in, widening his stance to resist Kiriya's insistent pulling better, "Hey! You can't just throw me out like this after saying practically nothing for two years!" He yelled.

But he just ended up looking dumb because Kiriya stopped the moment he yelled. His grip on Nisshi's arm was still iron, but at least he wasn't stubbornly walking forward anymore.

"You could at least explain why you can't be seen around! Just give me something! Anything!" Nisshi didn't usually have outbursts like this, but he'd spent such a long time alone when Kiriya had really been alive this whole time. "Have you even told your parents you're alive? They were worried sick until you ‘officially died!’ And they’ve been mourning you, ever since," Kiriya flinched. So even his moms didn't know... "I understand that all this bugster stuff had to be kept secret back then, but Riko and I got infected and kidnapped and you only told us so much once that was settled. And now it's even public knowledge with that press conference but you still sneak around and only talk to me through post-its?" Nisshi grabbed Kiriya's wrist with his free arm and squeezed, "Am I only worth that much to you?"

Kiriya finally stopped fighting back and sighed heavily, hanging his head. Nisshi continued to glare at his back until he finally turned around and met him with a crooked smirk. He let go of Nisshi’s arm, so he let go too, as Kiriya nodded slightly.

"You're not... I just thought..." He laughed softly, "Actually, I didn't think. I'm supposed to be dead, so I just rolled with it because I thought it'd cause less problems. But I'd pop in here every once in a while and when it was you all by yourself... and I just wanted to... I don't really know, give you a sign or something. Let you know you're not alone. I know losing Jungo was hard on both of us, so me too must've been..."

Nisshi closed his eyes, taking a moment to collect really absorb everything Kiriya just said, then shook his head exasperatedly. He moved in close, scowling and flicking Kiriya's forehead, "Idiot. Thanks for making me think I was losing my mind."

Before Kiriya protested, Nisshi continued, "I'm going to be the only one working here tomorrow, so if you wanna come down, we can catch up." He ruffled Kiriya's hair just because the other man hated the way it reminded him of their height difference, and chucked at the glare Kiriya shot him.

Satisfied he made his point, Nisshi started heading towards the door when Kiriya suddenly called out for him.

"Wait, you came in here for something, right?"

Nisshi flinched. That's right, his lunch. Why was he always so forgetful about this in particular? As he headed back for it, he paused and looked at Kiriya. All the excitement of finding him here kind of ruined his appetite anyway.

"Yeah, it's a bento from Riko. Should still be on my desk behind," he waved his hand towards the presents, "All that stuff. Feel free to take it if you want. It's probably been a while since you got to eat her cooking."

Kiriya blinked rapidly, and Nisshi headed out the door before he could protest or do anything else. He continued rushing his way out of the hospital until he made it onto the platform for his train. Once he stopped, just standing there and waiting, relief and a torrent of other emotions he didn't even have time to recognize and name flooded through him.

Kiriya was alive.

Kiriya was fine. More than fine actually, from the way he looked, like he was actually getting sleep for once.

And if he came back tomorrow, Nisshi could finally figure out what the hell happened to him for the last three years or confirm he was having very vivid hallucinations and go seek help. And if Kiriya really came back... It could almost be like old times again. For the first time this month, he was looking forward to coming to work.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm listing my ideas for the second chapter here just in case I don't do a follow up and this is it.
> 
> The second chapter would mainly be the two of them working on Nisshi's case while Kiriya catches him up on everything that happened with the virus and previous installments of this series, including that he's a bugster now and has a dragon bugster bf. Also Nisshi makes him promise to go visit his moms, and calls out why he didn't teleport when he startled him, asking if he wanted to get caught but Kiriya plays it cryptic. (a.k.a. He panicked and briefly forgot how)
> 
> Also Kiriya helping Nisshi take the presents back home so they can open them. The big box is the Pikachu Roomba, because Nisshi's forgetful so having a robot vacuum should help him with that at least. Also, Kiriya already opened it to put a detective hat on top. The bag is full of snacks Kiriya teleported from Hawai'i because he can and will force his friends to try the stuff he grew up with.


End file.
